Paint
by mustlovecat
Summary: OneShot DL The entire team prepares a surprise for Danny & Lindsay.


**A/N **If you are reading my stuff in chronological order, this follows Labour and Delivery. Thank you to all of you devoted readers. It means a lot that there are people out there enjoying what I have so much fun writing. Also, thanks so all who have sent me best wishes during what has turned into a difficult recovery. They have definitely helped lift my spirits during this time.

**Disclaimer** I own nothing but only have reverence and awe for those that do actually own the CSI Franchise.

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"This was a great idea, Don," Stella said as she bent down and dipped the roller brush in the soft green paint.

"Don't sound so surprised there, Stel," he replied, feigning hurt.

She rolled her eyes and went back to painting.

"Okay, I got one vegetarian and one with extra pepperoni," Sheldon announced as he walked into the room, two pizza boxes in one hand, a six-pack of beer in the other. "Wow, this is really coming along."

Don nodded, setting his brush down and studying the white paint job he had given to the base boards that he had sitting across two sawhorses. "You heard from Adam? I thought he was supposed to be here by now."

"Yes. He said he was going to stop by the hospital first since he was working when the twins were born. But he should be here soon. I'm leaving him the cribs."

"Hawkes, you were in med school at eighteen, and you can't figure out how to put those things together?" Stella teased her friend, grabbing a slice a vegetarian pizza from the box and savouring it, not having had anything to eat since early in the morning.

"Did you see those instructions? I don't know what language they're in, but its not English or Spanish or anything with a Latin root."

They all laughed as they dove into the pizza and beer, appraising the work they had done on the room so far. All but the wall Stella had been working on had a second coat of paint. Don was on the last of the baseboards. Sheldon had finished putting together the change table after refinishing the old chest of drawers Danny had picked up but had yet to get around to fixing up. They were feeling confident that they would be able to get everything done well before Danny and Lindsay arrived home with Matteo and Olivia the next afternoon.

"You know, Linds had wanted a Noah's Ark theme," Don explained with a shake of the head. "But Danny cut her off at the pass on that after that case we worked way back when. Something about a sense memory of the smell."

"I like this green," Stella said. "It's calming. And definitely neutral. You know they never said anything, but do you think they knew they were going to have both a boy and girl?"

"Nah, there's no way they would have been able to keep it a secret if they knew," Flack scoffed. He wiped some sweat off his brow with his forearm, the June heat wave starting to penetrate the apartment after hours of manual labour.

They finished eating and got back to work. Shortly thereafter, Adam arrived along with Mac, the former not having had a chance to get the hospital after pulling a few hours of overtime. Nobody could help ribbing Mac then about his wardrobe of jeans and t-shirt, all having rarely seen him dressed down. He took the teasing in stride, rolled his eyes and got down to business helping Adam put together the two cribs. Then he and Don replaced the baseboards. With Stella's keen eye, they all brought the furniture in after cleaning up the drop cloths and sawhorses and neatly arranged the nursery. Just after nine p.m., she put the last stuffed toy on the rocking chair they had all bought for the new parents and took a step back to assess their work.

"Perfect," she pronounced with a proud smile.

"Not bad for a day's work," Flack agreed.

Mac put a hand on the homicide detective's shoulder. "This was a great idea, Don."

"Why does everyone keep saying that like they're surprised?" he asked incredulously.

Sheldon laughed. "He just meant we're lucky you picked up on it when Danny said they hadn't had a chance to finish the nursery."

"I'd kill to see their faces when they get home tomorrow," Stella sighed.

They were finishing packing everything up a while later when a key was heard in the lock. "What the…?" Don asked, glancing at the clock.

The door opened and in walked an exhausted-looking Danny, a car seat in each hand containing a sleeping twin, and Lindsay right behind him with a duffel bag over her shoulder. Seeing unexpected guests scattered in their apartment, it took Danny a minute to realize he did not have to worry about being unable to access his gun and instead look at his team mates curiously.

"What are you guys doing here?" Stella asked.

"I believe we should be asking you that," Danny replied. He looked at his wife. "This is the right address, right? Or am I so tired that I drove us to the Lab?"

"No, this is it," she said, looking around. From the front entranceway, it was not apparent why they were all gathered and she felt like she did not have enough brain cells available to try to figure it out. So, she set down the duffel bag and crossed her arms.

"Is everything okay?" Sheldon pressed. "We thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow."

"Which brings us back to my question: Why are you guys all here in our house when _we_ weren't supposed to be?" Danny countered. He set both car seats down, rocking them both gently to ensure the twins continued to sleep.

"We have a surprise for you," Adam explained.

"But really, is everything okay?" Stella asked again.

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure how thrilled Mac would be about one of his team members punching out an orderly," Danny explained, nodding towards his wife.

"What?" Lindsay said defensively. "That guy was completely incompetent. And those _people_ had no idea how to take care of twins. There's importance in routine. And do you know what's in those cleaning –"

"Babe, it's okay. We're home. Don't get yourself all upset again," he soothed her, rubbing her back.

"Is it okay that the twins are home already?" Don asked, crouching down and appraising both babies. "Olivia looks smaller. She's not smaller, is she?"

"No, no, they're both fine. Better than fine considering the early arrival," Danny assured everyone. "So, what's this surprise? Does it involve beer at all 'cause I could sure use one. You have no idea what it's like trying to keep your wife from taking the heads off of the entire maternity ward staff."

"I wasn't _that _bad," Lindsay replied weakly.

"Montana, I'm already scared 'a you and I was about ready to jump out a window. Anyway, we checked out. So, what's the surprise?"

"You might want to bring the twins with you," Sheldon suggested.

Danny crouched down and unbuckled the straps on the car seats for both of them. He handed Olivia off to Don who still appeared convinced that she had gotten smaller, then took Matteo in his own arms. He took Lindsay's hand and they followed Stella down the hall, Mac, Adam and Sheldon behind them.

Stella excitedly turned on the light inside the nursery and led them inside.

Danny's eyes widened at the transformation – the curtains hung, the paint on the walls, the furniture all together and set up beautifully. Then he noticed the rocking chair. "Oh, man, you guys. This is incredible! How'd you pull this off?"

"A day off and some determination," Sheldon explained. "Everyone helped. It was Don's idea."

Danny smiled at his best friend. "Thanks, man. This is awesome."

"He's not surprised," Stella hissed, elbowing Flack in the ribs when he started to speak.

"Actually, I am, but –"

"This is…wonderful," Lindsay cut in, overcome with emotion. She started sobbing and with all eyes on her, she ran from the room.

"She's been doing this all day," Danny explained with a shrug. He handed Matteo to an eager Stella, told everyone to make themselves comfortable in the living room, then followed his wife down the hall to their bedroom. He walked inside and found Lindsay sitting on the edge of the bed, crying. "Montana."

Wracked with sobs, she did not say anything.

He sat down on the edge of the bed beside her and put his arm around her, pulling her into his side. He kissed the top of her head. "It's all right, babe. I know you're tired and today's been crazy. I wanted to deck that orderly, too."

She laughed at that and managed to stop crying. She looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm all over the place."

"It's to be expected. Linds, you gave birth to twins like thirty-six hours ago. We weren't even expecting this to happen for another few weeks. I know you. Being surprised, thrown off your game, you don't do so well with that. Plus you've got all these hormones coursing through your body, two kids that are magically here and expecting us to know what the hell we're doing. It's a little overwhelming. I'm a little freaked out myself," he assured her.

"Danny, they're so small! What happens if I drop one?" she sniffled.

"That's why we've got two," he joked.

She shot him a glare.

"Kidding. Kidding. Look, yeah, they're small. But I'm pretty sure they really wouldn't have let us leave with 'em if there was a problem."

"You threatened to have them all arrested."

"Yeah, but still…" He shrugged. "Lindsay, we're gonna screw up. My parents made mistakes. I'm sure yours did, too. But we still turned out okay, right?"

"I'm impatient and a control freak and…and—"

"Beautiful, compassionate, brilliant, and so damn brave it kills me. And if Olivia turns out to be half the woman her mother is, God, I'm screwed 'cause I'm gonna have to pull my gun on a hell of a lot of guys that're gonna be comin' in here and tryin' to put the moves on her."

"If Matteo's half as smooth as his dad, we're in trouble, too," she laughed then.

"I hear Military School is a good option. Mac's got contacts."

She laughed again, curling closer into Danny's side. "Thank you."

He kissed her temple. "You're an amazing woman, Lindsay Monroe Messer. And you have given me the greatest gift with those two kids. It's gonna be a hell of a ride. And yeah, it's gonna be hard, and there are probably gonna be times when we're going to want to kill each other or them. But look, we're in this together. Whether it's here in our home or out there on the job, I'm always gonna have your back.

"It goes both ways." She leaned up and kissed him gently. "I need to go properly thank our friends for all the work they did."

"Pretty cool, huh? Think if we took off for the weekend they'd finish the den?"

She chuckled, wiping away the last of her tears.

Out in the living room, their friends were talking amongst themselves and cooing at the babies. Flack was holding Olivia in his arms in the chair, and had officially declared himself her protector; he was currently explaining to her that she could call upon Uncle Don should her big brother ever beat up on her or any other guy look at her the wrong way. Mac, Stella and Sheldon were on the couch with Matteo in Stella's arms, all convinced that was already able to identity them and would therefore surpass Sheldon and be in med school by age sixteen. Adam was debating whether the configuration of the nursery was ideal or if they should move the cribs forty-five degrees.

Danny and Lindsay just watched for a moment, shaking their heads in awe. Four scientists and one street-wise homicide detective all turned to mush over a set of twins not even two days old. Lindsay looked at her husband then and knew that everything was going to be okay. After all, they were not about to embark on this adventure alone.

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**A/N 2** No disrespect meant to any maternity ward workers. Also, I don't know if it's realistic for twins this early to be released so soon, but this isn't real, so I took creative license. With that said, I hope you enjoyed this "episode". It went in a completely different direction from my original plan. However, as you all know by now, I love Flack and I could not resist the "Why is everyone surprised?" lines, nor his bonding with baby Olivia, so this is what happened. I won't reveal my original idea, as I think parts of it may still be used and I would not want to spoil it down the road for you!


End file.
